Customer Reviews

AIR: Eating, Sleeping, Waiting, and Playing [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is one quirky film. It had me puzzled at first but by the end I was laughing out loud. Yes, this is a documentary about Air's (The French band) first world tour with their album 'Moon Safari'. It contains playful interviews with the artist themselves, band members and average people on the street! The only complaint is that I just wished it contained more concert footage of the show itself. (But maybe that because I missed their tour.) All four music videos are included especially 'Kelly Watch the Stars' which sounds incredible! Overall, a fun documentary trying to capture and understand the insanity of touring.

If you have a sense of humor, are at least a mild fan of Air and aren't expecting to see a live concert, I think you will enjoy this video. This documentary gives a glimpse of what the band and their associates are like... I was totally surprised by this video. From listening to Air's music, you cannot really tell what lighthearted and unpretentious guys they are...
There is a lot of question and answer with many young fans, roadies and random people that is quite amusing. It's all in black and white. The end of the video features the hilarious Sexy Boy video, as well as three others, incl. a trailer for the film. I guess you either get it or you don't... you will see the band "eating, sleeping, waiting and playing" just as the title suggests.

The Air DVD is mildly disappointing given it is marketed as a documentary on the duo, but the "complete works of Air" (4 video clips) are actually worth the money for the DVD. The video clips, while only song-length, really are mini films and are pretty snappy mixtures of cinematography, slick retro French design, and that mellow sexy groove. It's worth noting that the video clips are actually different versions of the songs than what's on the CD, so if you are a real Air fan this makes the DVD worth it alone.

The video clip of "Kelly Watch the Stars" is particularly impressive and gave me an interesting, different interpretation of the song from how I originally perceived it. The version on the DVD has more 'cha cha' clap sounds added into it which spice it up more than the originally very mellow version, but I actually prefer this new version.

A word of warning - I have a Pioneer DV525 with a region modification, and although this disc is an all-region disc, I have had some problems getting it to work properly. The main problem is video corruption after the copyright message at the beginning of the disc. However I have been able to work around this by pressing "Menu" after the copyright message which refreshes the menu and everything seems to work fine. I suspect this could just be a problem with my player and region modification but I thought I would mention it anyway.

Overall - a worthwhile addition to your collection if only to play the video clips on repeat at a party (which you can do, by programming the titles on your DVD by the way). But don't expect much from the documentary on the disc.

lemme start of by saying i was reeally dissapointed with this documentary. having fast forwarded practically all of the video because of the bore. only good reason to own this dvd is because of some unreleased art work from the band AND the music videos that is in it "sexy boy", "kelly watch the stars", "all i need", and "le soleil est pres de moi". the music videos are really entertaining to watch. Fav. video "all i need". besides that the documentary really bites. everytime the band would be in an interview all u ever got to hear was the reporters questions and thats it, the video would cut off to another scene as soon as the french duo would open their mouths, questions that i was really interested in knowing the answers. besides that theres that annoying camera thats always panning left to right in practically every scene ( it goes so far to the left and right that u see the walls 75 percent of the time and of the band 25 ) you get practically no info on the the band, and when it was over i was still in the same place as when i put the dvd in. i absolutely love AIR but this documentary doesnt do it justice. Good only for the videos and art work.

This video's pretty old but I thought I'd contribute a review of it anyway...
Being a big fan of Air's music and videos, I was really looking forward to something special with this video but it really is the most boring bag of rubbish I've ever payed money for.
It's so disappointing.
All it seems to be about is the Air boys dossing around with their mates "Phoenix" and Beck's backing band... It's such a ridiculous idea to just simply release this "documentary" when they really should have made it as a supplement to the full concert. ....

In terms of music, all we are "treated" to are some short clips of them performing live but not enough to make it interesting.
...

But it does have two redeeming features which is possibly worth the price of buying the video: The brilliant videos for "Sexy Boy" and "Kelly Watch The Stars" which are on after the main feature.

I really can't see the point of getting this tape except for the promos.
Overall then: VERY disappointing.

And boy am I bitter. Were the makers of this documentary trying to make some profound statement about the differences between America and Europe? How long does it stay entertaining to know that most people haven't heard of Air? Could they not have injected the band members with drugs (stimulants, preferably) and given us something more interesting to watch than each of them staring blankly, in turn, into the camera for thirty seconds? Could they not PRETEND to have some entertaining quirks or know some interesting stories? Since Air is largely souped up easy listening, couldn't they have played some music in the background more than just one song at the beginning? All right, I'll admit, the scene where they walked through the hotel, knocked on their door, and walked inside was riveting [sic], but it didn't add to the "continuity". My fellow viewers (owners of the tape) decided to rewind before the credits finished, and I am left with the feeling of having squandered much more than an hour. This failed even from the "get to know more about them" angle; it revealed squat, and one could have read everything ever printed about them in the span of this ploy.

This is not an exciting video to watch - quite the contrary: It's boring. It outlines the "Moon Safari" tour with brutal honesty - the fact that nothing really happens when you're a french duo touring with your american backup band. A lot of questions are asked by the director of the film (which makes me wonder what the focus of the movie REALLY was?) to unsuspecting passerbys (eg; "Do you eat at McDonald's?").

I think the whole point to this film is to bore you. The two stars I give it are for the videos at the end for the spectacular track "Sexy Boy," and the follow-up, "Kelly Watch the Stars," which features a mix previously unreleased! The video for "All I need" bored me more than the 2 hours worth of documentary preceeding it.

The first time I saw this documentary I simply loved it.

I will be the first to admit, is is NOT your typical run of the mill "here is this band" type of documentary. Mike Mills uses odd camera movements, often venturing off of the subjects mid-speech and showing their environment, with no worries about crew members in the shot. The movement for me becomes almost transient much like that of a lava-lite... it sort of lulls you, puts you into a hypnotic state that makes the seemingly boring and arbitrary questions the most fascinating.

A number of interviewees will tell the viewers whether or not they like McDonalds (often citing their favorite item on the menu), what kind of animal they would be, the importance of money, what they think of AIR (many of whom do not even know the band)... among a myriad of questions harpooned at AIR, whose slight language barrier often provides a comedic sort of sympathetic viewing experience.

The documentary is entirely in black and white, which doesn't affect my viewing. I personally am a big fan of b/w, especially when juxtapozed against a band such as AIR, who typically seems to have a lot of vivid color in their sound and aesthetic.

Finally I should say that I am not the biggest fan of AIR, but I still loved this documentary. I feel as though certain die-hard fans may not love it as much. Mills does ask a lot of personal questions to the band, often invading their hotel room or talking to them backstage or on the tour bus. We find out more about them through the live bandmates and AIR themselves... but the direction this documentary takes is much more of an avant-garde experimental documentary sort. I feel as though filmmakers would really appreciate this film for its unique qualities.

Though I think that AIR is the perfect subject for a doc like this, I also feel that, like an episode of "Behind the Music", this could be about almost any band and it would be interesting.

I love Air. I always have... and I always will. The reason this video doesn't "work" for some people is that it was not really made with American sensibilities in mind. In fact I think it kind of mocks Americans. It's like a French film, you may get bored, but that's because it's pretty straightforward, and there's no surprises. American's like action, etc., so that's exactly what we don't get (until the videos)... Guys, appreciate the video for Air, and it's commentary on us Americans.

This is by far the worst band "documentary" I've ever seen, and I've seen many. A documentary covering a band on tour could be A) amusing, B) informative, C) silly, D) wild and crazy, or any combination of the above. What it shouldn't be is frightfully dull. Granted, Air is not a rock band and throwing furniture out the hotel room window is not something you're going to see, but there's so much standing around watching air waiting. The title does not lie: you DO see air sleeping and waiting. There's a scene that seems to drag on forever of one of the members sleeping. He then wakes up and the scene ends.

It's nice to see Air walking around, talking, and giving the occasional interesting insight into their music, but those moments are few and far between. I watched the DVD with a fellow Air fan and we really wanted to enjoy it, but there was just nothing of substance. A lot of times, I get the sense that the filmmaker believes a scene is far more interesting than it really is. Funny angles or weird handheld shots don't necessarily make it interesting to watch two guys standing in a hallway.

I found two things particularly offensive. First, during some interview portions, Air gets asked questions, but they get cut off just before they answer. What exactly is the point of this? Why ask a question and then not show the answer? What could the filmmaker have been trying to show by doing this? I have no idea. Second, there are many many man-on-the-street clips where we find out that *Surprise!* many people haven't heard of Air. Wow.

The only redeeming quality is the music videos at the end. It's not like they're great videos (they're actually pretty mediocre), but at least they're better than what came before them. The one single reason to pay money for this DVD is to own the music videos, but I'm not sure their quality justifies the price (any price) unless you're just fanatical about Air.

This is a real shame because Air is such a consistently interesting band. This could have been a documentary with interviews, or with a live show, or with a lot of guest talking-heads providing commentary on Air - it could have been many thing. Instead, it's a dull video diary that will test even the most enthusiastic Air fans.